MOTIVATION AND PROCEDURES

Since its formation in 1924, the World Energy Conference (WEC) has played an active role in efforts to improve and publish

comprehensive data on world energy resources and their utilization. In 1929, the Central Office of the Conference published an initial study on the "Power Resources of the World, Potential and Developed." There followed a series of statistical yearbooks (1933 to 1958) that included information on resources and the available annual statistics on the

production, stocks, imports, exports, and consumption of the several forms of energy in various countries.

In 1952, the United Nations began their "J" Series of Statistical Papers on the annual production, trade, and consumption of the various solid, liquid, and gaseous forms of energy and of electricity in individual countries and geographical areas. of the world. The second number of this

"J" Series was published in 1957 and the third in 1959.

In 1958, by agreement with the United Nations, the World Energy Conference became the primary source of information on world energy resources, and the United Nations continues to provide data on world energy production, trade, and con- sumption. At present, the WEC is the sole body undertaking a global survey of resources. United Nations data have been issued annually, with the sixteenth paper in 1973, giving annual statistics for the years 1968 to 1971.

In light of this agreement, the International Executive Council of the Conference decided in 1959 to discontinue its statistical yearbooks and to issue at intervals of six years a new series of publications entitled "World Energy Conference Survey of Energy Resources." A Consultative Panel was then appointed by the International Executive Council to advise on planning the details of the new series, the first of which was published in 1962 and the second in 1968 and the third in 1974. The US Atomic Energy Commission (USAEC) was asked to take a leading role in the conduct of the Survey 1974.

Resource experts from other agencies assisted in the difficult task of preparing the resource questionnaires.

Preliminary versions of the questionnaires were presented in draft form for review by the Consultative Panel at meetin held in September 1 9 7 2 . Final revised questionnaires reflecting the Consultative Panel's directions were completed late in 1 9 7 2 . Arrangements were made for work on preparation of the latest Survey to be done at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory,

Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The Laboratory was designated to receive the completed questionnaires, to collect and compile the

resource data, and to write the document. The tasks of compiling, converting, and checking the resource data were all carried out at Oak Ridge. A computer system was used to store, rearrange, and prepare tabular material for publication.

Narrative discussions on each of the energy resources were prepared by professional staff at the Laboratory.

Of the 6 9 National Committees of the WEC to whom--in the preparation of the 1 9 7 4 Survey--energy resource question- naires were transmitted, about 5 4 returned partial or complete replies. Four of these National Committees also returned a total of 27 replies for their dependencies. In addition, complete questionnaires were received from 1 1 nonmember countries, and three other nations reported that they had no energy resources of any significance. All data in the Survey are given in International System (IS) units.

2. DEFINITIONS

2 . 1 Energy Resources

In the broadest sense resources of nonrenewable raw materials are the total quantities available in the earth that may be successfully exploited and used by man within the foreseeable future. Reserves, however, are the corre- sponding fraction of resources that have been carefully measured and assessed as being exploitable in a particular nation or region under present local economic conditions using existing world basis, and one of the purposes of the current survey has been to attempt to resolve some of this confusion.

To achieve this goal the Consultative Panel for the energy resources survey were very careful in preparing instructions for questionnaires in order 1 ) to meet the needs of as many groups of readers as possible, 2 ) to keep the instructions as simple as possible in order to promote maximum response based on readily available information in each nation, and 3) to obtain data from all countries on as uniform a basis as is presently feasible. A general summary of terms used in the present survey is tabulated in Table 1.

One of the reasons for a wide disparity in definitions of reserves and resources of energy raw materials among the various regions and nations is that present local usage is based on historical precedents which have evolved under differing social, legal, economic, and technical experiences and commercial practices. Thus, differences are most pro- nounced for long used resources such as coal. Definition for oil and gas, and more recently for nuclear fuels, are much more uniform not only because they have been used for a shorter time, but also because they relate to commodities of extensive

Table 1. Summary of reserve and resource terminology used in the present survey.

Note: Terminology for Hydraulic Resources includes installed and installable capacity (power in Mw) and probable annual generation (energy in GWh/year). Similar terminology applies, in general, to other renewable resources.

'Includes indicated (probable) and inferred (possible) reserves as normally defined.

'~otal resources are also given for solid fuels.

3~ncludes past cumulative production.

4~lternative terminology (OECD) is reasonably assured resources (recoverable at costs up to approximately $26 per kilogram of U or Th).

Reasonably assured resources recoverable at costs above $26 per kilogram are regarded as part of additional resources.

world trade necessitating common standards. The terminology of the American oil industry, for example, became standard national nomenclature and has now been introduced in many other countries throughout the world.

It should be noted, however, that the measurement and evaluation of energy reserves and resources may serve different purposes in different settings, and the use of a common world terminology may still mask important differences in local basic data. Differences in definitions have arisen partly through the extent to which geologists, engineers, economists, and businessmen have imposed their outlook on definitions.

Thus, until recently, resource definitions have been more geologically and technically oriented in the countries with centrally planned economy and more economically directed in other nations. The result of all of these factors is that there are rational bases for the disparity in definitions, and that fully acceptable and effective world wide definitions, for some resources will be difficult to achieve.

In the latest survey resources were divided into two general categories. Category 1) includes identified or known reserves- in-place which are well delineated or closely appraised, while Category 2) embraces all other additional resources including those not yet discovered but believed to exist on the basis of geological evidence. Category 1) included the total identifi- able amount of material estimated to be in-place in known deposits, as revealed by outcrops or by mining or drilling and by detailed sampling to establish its type and grade.

The fraction of material unlikely to be recovered under existing technological conditions is part of the estimated total. By difference, the portion recoverable under current economic conditions and using current technologies is the Known Recoverable Reserves. Category 2), Additional Resources, includes all other classifications with a lower degree of geologic certainty as to their existence than those indicated as known. This includes resources estimated to exist on the basis of general knowledge of geological conditions favorable for their occurrence. It also includes deposits for which there are few, if any, samples or actual measurements.

Thus, estimates of quantities are generally based on the results of geological or exploratory information or on evidence of duplication or parallelism of geological conditions in which known deposits occur. Such definition gives wide latitude for estimates in this category which is necessary for large parts of the world where little or no data exist that would permit reporting under rigidly specified criteria.

Careful consideration of each of these points in using the data in the report 1974, and in other resource documents should prevent misuse of such data and the drawing of unwarranted conclusions based on the limited scope and accuracy of such data as are now known.

2.2 Standardization of Terms of Energy Economy

In a major effort to reduce possible misinterpretation

of data, experts of the four German speaking nations (Austria, the FRG, the GDR and Switzerland) compiled a catalogue of approximately 800 special terms in the following fields of energy economy:

general terms,

For all of these 800 terms, definitions were established having given due consideration to already existing practices and definitions arrived at and established by various national and international bodies like UCPTE, UNIPEDE, GAS UNION, etc.

By agreement with the Executive Council representatives of English, French, Spanish and Russian speaking members will evaluate these definitions in order to arrive at closely correlated corresponding definitions. The WEC will then propose these terms and definitions for general use.